Kingdom Hearts: Vengeance
by EpecFryes
Summary: Sora is abandoned, left alone to reveal a mystery unlike anything he had experienced before. He is determined to get back home, no matter what it takes. He is introduced to doom and horror that he has never experienced before... Chapter 15 now up!
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction and you will probably notice quickly haha. I just wanted to say I am very new to this site and I will warn you that I will need to improve as I update this story. I will be updating a chapter a day cuz i got no life :/ Anyhoo, yeah. If you are willing to stay tuned to my story I will appreciate it. Thanks current and future readers, reviewers, and followers :D sorry for the long author's note. Now on with the story!_**

Sora laughed with his best friends Riku and Kairi. They sat upon their favorite paopu tree,watching the ocean as they so often did. It was peaceful as usual, yet it didn't feel right. Every so often, Sora would feel a deep pain in his head. In fact, he didn't remember how he got to their favorite spot! Sora decided he was too confused and spoke out,

"Guys," he didn't quite know what to say,"what's up?"

They replied after about thirty seconds of very awkward silence. They said, "Not mu-," and their voices faded from the air, from existence.

He jumped from his spot on the tree. Riku and Kairi had been sitting at the end of the tree more toward the base. Sora inched toward them, hoping that he was in a dream or had just imagined the strange occurrence.

"Guys!" He said more forcefully.

Sora was about to touch Riku's shoulder when his and Kairi's heads flung aside to stare Sora in the eyes. There faces were definitely not the way Sora had expected them to be. They were a slight tint of blue, with there faces glitching like something you may see on television. He gasped, frozen with fear yet with concern for his friends. He shook Riku's shoulder only to receive no response. Then he walked over to Kairi, he hoped for the best and reached for her featureless face. There was a strange flash of light. It was not a flash of the light like he had seen before on his adventures, a slight orange, as if he were looking at a fire through a large sheet of paper. Suddenly, he awoke again. Only this time he noticed he was in a hospital gown, strapped upright in some sort of metallic machine. The machine, had rubber tubes connecting to his arms and chest. When he noticed a security camera in one of the corners of the the room, a quiet alarm sounded. Then, he heard footsteps from outside the heavy metal door that separated him from freedom.

**_Ok. First chapter down! Sorry if you thought it was too short. I WILL make them longer in the future. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you'll read my daily updates as they come! Be sure to review so I can improve please! IN THE FUTURE UPDATES, THERE WILL NOT BE AUTHOR'S NOTES! So have no fear! :)_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: Thank you if you have read this far! Tips to make the story better are welcome and reviews are appreciated. I update the story daily, so if you liked it, Read On! **_

The footsteps stopped in front of the door and the jingle of keys being fumbled with  
by a panicking hand was heard. Time seemed to slow for Sora as he heard every mechanism  
of the door's lock do their function. Suddenly, Sora's racing heart and panick forced him from  
his metallic machine of inprisonment.

He stood in the center of the room, trying to decide on  
where to hide from the unknown fate that stood behind that door. He heard the first instance of  
the turning door handle like a ton of bricks. There was no time to decide, he ran for a long  
table with papers and folders scattered across it. He ducked out of site behind an office chair  
as an average looking hospital employee walked into the room. Sora, peeking from his hiding  
place, noticed the man jump at the site of the empty machine. Now that Sora was not in the  
machine, he could now see that it was quite disfunctional. It was spitting fiery sparks, and the  
several computer monitors connected to it were flashing dark red and glitching much like Sora's  
companions' faces were.

He shuddered at the image the event had given him. While the  
employee was investigating the spitting monster of a machine, he jumped at something that  
Sora couldn't see from his position. After the emplyee ran out of the room shouting for  
assistance, Sora took the opportunity and ran up to the backside of the machine. He now saw  
what made the man jump.

The wires were cut and removed from the machine, where even  
more sparks were erupting. At last, Sora spotted the tool used for the cutting, beside a wire  
that lay on the ground, was a single combat knife. Sora, kneeling down to try and interprate  
what he was seeing, heard footsteps again and this time there were many. Before he could  
run for his hiding spot, he heard the noise of the unsheathing of a blade.

He then heard a man yell, "Alright, back away slowly!" the sound that Sora decided was someone  
hitting a wall or the floor was heard, "We only want the boy! Where is he!?"

One pair of the footstep was now coming toward the door to the room Sora was in. He could  
have hid, but he didn't. He was extremely tired despite the fact that he had been sleep for  
God knows how long. He was in a new place, hiding in hopes to find out what is happening.  
Sora decided he would show himself, he had been in worse scenarios in his adventures. He  
stood in the middle of the room and got his fighting hand ready behind him, ready to summon  
his weapon if needed. He stood staring at the door, hearing the footsteps get louder as they  
got closer, for now Sora waited...


	3. Chapter 3

The first sight of the man behind the footsteps brought Sora's muscles to tense, ready for  
action. As Sora got a better view he release some tension, as the casually dressed man was  
skinny and not very impressive. From what Sora had heard, he had been expecting some sort  
of soldier. Upon further inspection, Sora realized this guy had to be the same age as himself.  
The young man finally noticed Sora upon looking up from the floor. Sora and the young man  
stared each other in the eye, completely still. Finally, Sora put his hands in the air, surrendering  
himself. Sora allowed the man to cuff his hands behind his back, Sora was ready to be taken  
from his prison.

As Sora was being taken through hallways, he saw the scene of what he had heard earlier.  
Doctors and scientists had their arms cuffed and were being watched by armed men and  
women, wearing simple sweatshirts and jeans. Some wore masks and the swords they held  
varied in sizes and designs. Sora continued to walk and observe this new world that he had  
entered so quickly and suddenly. It hurt Sora to think that the life he loves so much has now  
been taken from him, the only thing that kept him going is the hope that he can get back home.  
At last, Sora was guided to an elevator, the man pushed the button to take them to the bottom  
floor. As the elevator descended, Sora decided to speak.

"What's your name?" Sora asked easily and emotionless.

"It's Mowlar. "You are... Sora?" He answered, matching Sora's tone.

"Yes... I am."

The elevator reached the bottom floor, revealing a lobby with a service desk. Above the table  
was a sign that said: Welcome to the Donaldson Heights Research Facility. Mowlar directed  
Sora to the large, double glass doors. As they got closer, Sora could see that it was night time. He  
could see the lights of a big city glistening in the dark from every building. As they reached the  
exit of Sora's nightmare, perhaps only to enter a new one, Mowlar walked ahead of Sora and  
opened the door for him. As Sora finally stepped into the outside world, he saw many more  
armed people standing in a large crowd. They were all staring at Sora, Mowlar took the cuffs  
off of Sora's hands. Sora continued to stare back at the crowd. They all were dirty and some  
had visible cuts on their face. Sora looked to the right of where he stood on top of the stairway  
leading to the entrance. He saw burning spots scattered across the street, and in the middle  
of the expired chaos, there were bodies. They were men and women who sacrificed them-  
selves to set Sora free...


	4. Chapter 4

As Sora continued to stare into the crowd, even more people flowed in. The armed men and  
women who survived were all dirty and worn. Finally, when the stream of soldiers halted, a  
buff man with a fresh cut across his chest limped up to Sora. The man gave Sora a pat on the back as a  
black limo pulled up and honked its horn. The large man put his arm around Sora and lead  
him into the back of the car. As soon as the door was shut behind Sora, the car was off. After  
a couple minutes of riding in the car as Sora's mind wandered chaotically, wondering what  
he was going to do, Sora saw a quickly made road block ahead.

There were a few large delivery vans in a straight line formation. The limo pulled up and came  
to a stop. A young man who looked about fifteen walked up to the open window of  
the driver seat. As him and the driver had a brief chat, the teen couldn't stop staring at Sora.  
Eventually, Sora looked out his window to escape the teenager's stare. The kid signaled one  
of the large vehicles to move, an enormous crowd was revealed. This new crowd of people  
made the one Sora saw before look tiny, this crowd was angry rather than relieved, however.  
They were angrily shaking fists and cursing the name of Sora. He did not so much as hide his  
face, though. Sora stared into the face of every man or woman who hated him, though they did  
not even know him. None of them did. It hurt Sora that these people aimed their anger toward  
him, all he cared about was going back home so that these people could carry on happily with  
their lives.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note: I have noticed from other FanFics that people do disclaimers for some reason. I don't know why but I figured that I ought to do one so...**_

_**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR ANY CHARACTERS OR ANY PLACES. THEY ALL BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS!**_

_**(I will only do this for this one chapter)**_

**_I also want to thank "I Am The Real L" for giving the first review for this story_**

The car drove a while longer until it stopped in front of a large white house. In the middle of the  
dark, abandoned town, was a white, three story mansion. As Sora was let out of the limousine,  
he stared at the huge house. As armed men walked on either side of him on the way to the  
front door to the house, a grey haired man in a tuxedo greeted Sora and his two escorts. The  
armed men were were lead into a dining room, where a servant with fancy plates of food  
was waiting. Seeing the food made Sora realize how hungry he was himself, the day he was  
having was so overwhelming. Sora's mind was taken off his hunger when his host lead him  
into an office. The wealthy looking man offered Sora and he took it, of course.

"Tired?" Asked the man as Sora noticed his British accent.

"Very much." Answered Sora.

With that the man clapped his hands and a servant came to the office desk.

"Take this man to our finest room. I will be sleeping in the watch tower again." Commanded  
Sora's host.

"Sir," Sora asked quickly, "before I go, may I ask your name?"

"Dr. Donaldson. It's nice to finally meeting you in person, Sora." The man answered Sora  
casually.

The doctor then gestured Sora and the servant away. Sora stood, thanked the doctor, and left  
after the servant. The two walked upstairs to the top floor and into the master bedroom.

Before the servant could shut the door behind Sora he asked, "What is it that you people want  
from me?"

"Only to free you, so far. He will ask for a favor in return, no doubt. It's just how he is." The  
servant answered.

He said goodbye to Sora and closed the bedroom door. Sora heard it lock and he turned to  
the giant room that has been lent to him. He started by going into the master bathroom, it was  
nothing like the bathrooms he normally saw. He washed up and stepped out of the bathroom  
in a pair of pajamas that he assumed had been left out for him. They were more fancy than he  
was used to, but they were comfortable. As he noticed the wonderfully soft sheets and  
mattress, he drifted off into a deep sleep.

It felt like only an instant before the slight shine of sunlight through the curtains woke Sora. He  
sat up and stretched. He did not know the time at all last night, he hadn't know what time it was  
when he went to bed. However, Sora felt well rested and ready to figure out the large mess  
has entered his life. He went into the bathroom again and found another outfit lied out on the  
counter next to the sink. After investigation he found out where the cloths were coming from as  
he looked up and found the exit of a clothes shoot. When Sora held out the outfit he noticed it  
was a tuxedo. Reluctantly, he got himself dressed into the suit as well as he could remember  
from the one time he had worn one at a family member's wedding. As Sora looked up at the  
bathroom mirror to see himself for the first time since his exit from that machine. He quickly  
stepped back as he noticed that on his face, he must have obtained facial hair at some point  
that he was not aware of. In all of his confusion, this offered him a brief moment of amusement.

When Sora was on Destiny Islands last, he was only just sprouting his first facial hairs. Sora  
silently complimented himself on his classy new look, until he noticed that it was slightly  
strange how his facial hair was nicely groomed. The thought of somebody grooming Sora in  
his long slumber in the machine worried him. As he heard a knock on the bathroom door,  
Sora stopped looking at his reflection and opened the door. The same servant from the night  
before was there to greet him.

"Sleep well?" Asked the man.

"Yeah..." Sora answered debating if he should ask the servant any more questions.

He decided he would save his questions for who would be able to answer best, the doctor.  
He walked back through the halls that he had taken to bed the night before. Sora and the  
servant reached the doctor's office once again. The doctor offered the same seat to Sora and  
dismissed the servant.

The doctor, facing the large window positioned behind his own office chair with a view of the  
whole town said only one thing, "I have done you a big favor, as I'm sure you'll agree. Now,  
will you return that favor? It is a long and difficult one, but I am sure that you'll come to accept..."


	6. Chapter 6

"No disrespect, but I don't agree that it was much of a big favor." Sora said carefully.

"I don't think you understand, Sora. You would have died had it not been for me and my men."  
Replied the doctor, slightly angry.

"Well in that case, I thank you sir."

Cooling off quickly, the doctor nodded in approval of Sora's reassurance."Before I present you  
with my offer, I will take any questions you have. This must be very puzzling for you, after all."

Sora had many questions, indeed. "Will I be allowed to go back home?"

''If you are referring to your life in the machine, then no. That was never your home in the first  
place. It was merely an illusion, you never stayed home..." He trailed off, which intrigued Sora.

"Well thank you for freeing me from my illusion. Now, I will be off to my home as soon as  
possible, thank you for-"

"No!" Sora was interrupted, "Not yet. If you truely value your friends, you will not go dirrectly  
home. You see, there is another threat from the heartless. I'm afraid the worlds need you...  
again."

"I've defeated Ansem! Not to mention the whole Organization XIII!" Sora shouted angrily.

"Yes, and good victories they were, but the duty of the Keyblade Master never ends, you see?  
Sora, no matter how much you dislike it, it's your duty to fix these things!"

"Oh, and pulling me from what I believed was my home is the way it's done now. Is that it?!"

The doctor replies more quietly than before in an effort to quiet Sora as well. "It had to be  
done. The Keyblade is weak now! You have to believe me when I say that if you defeat the  
heartless' final attack, they will be gone forever. Go through with this one last adventure, and  
you will be free. The Keyblade will stay with you only until you pass and the next chosen one  
is born. You can live happily ever after for all I care, just do your job and fight!"

Sora, feeling ashamed nodded in silence. "You must let me visit my home, though."

The doctor hesitated for a long while. "Fine, but only for one day."

"Make it two and I'm in."

"Fine..."

Sora happily got up from his seat and reached out for a handshake to seal the deal. Sora's  
handshake was accepted and Sora actually felt happy.

"We will leave today at noon." The doctor said blankly.

"Thank you... Oh, and Dr. Donaldson?"

The doctor turned back to Sora, "Call me Frank"

"Got it. One more question, if that place that I was in belonged to you, why did you have to  
have your men attack it?"

"It used to be mine. Ever since I brought up the idea of freeing you from the machine, I have  
been getting robbed, but it was worth it. My world and all the others will now be saved."

Sora nodded and was off. As he walked out of the office, he looked around feeling lost. He  
began walking down the hallways, searching for somebody. Suddenly, a man came around  
the corner and nearly bumped into Sora.

As the man excused himself and began walking again, Sora shouted after him. "Hey. Mowlar?"

"Oh yes, you agian. How are you adapting to your freedom?"

Sora and Mowlar got into a conversation as they walked through the halls. Mowlar explained  
that he was on patrol."An attack could happen any time. The town has gathered military forces  
from larger cities to fight against us, but make no mistake if there are good and bad guys, we  
are the good guys. You may not have noticed the watchtowers located on the roof, those are a  
huge part in our defensive effort."

Sora was flabergasted at everything these people had done to simply take a chance at  
rescuing and convincing Sora. He was now, more than ever, ready to fight. Stopped walking  
and allowed Mowlar to walk away without him. As Sora turned to go the other way and explore  
some more, he spotted Frank walking to him.

"Are you ready, Sora?" Frank asked

"You have no idea." Sora replied with a wide smile.


	7. Chapter 7

"We have a ship ready for take off right now." Frank said, looking at his watch.

"Great" Sora replied

Sora tried not to show his excitment too much as him, Frank, and two pilots walked to the  
gummi ship. Sora stared at the ship as they approached, it was much smaller than the one he  
had used on his adventures. As the group walked onto the ship, the pilots got to work quickly.  
As the pilots clicked on the ship's controls, Sora and Frank took their seats behind the two  
drivers. The ship broke away from its landing pad and sped off into the clear, blue sky. Sora  
watched out a window behind the ship as the world dissapeared from view.

Sora turned to Frank, "How old am I?" He asked, feeling rather silly.

"Ah yes," Frank replied, "In the machine you were fourteen, correct?"

Sora nodded.

"You spent a little over ten years in the machine... that makes you twenty-four."

Sora wondered how much he missed. He could have been home living happily during those  
ten years.

"So they haven't seen me for ten years then?"

"Afraid not, Sora."

Sora, feeling depressed, turned to the window and fell asleep.

Sora woke up suddenly as the ship parked, sending a shake throughout the ship. Sora felt a  
surge of excitment flow through him. He stood up and walked out of the ship before everyone  
else. He took in the sight of the palm trees and the kids in shorts running around after  
eachother. Sora laughed to himself as this reminded him of his own childhood. Sora  
recognized the street he stood on and turned to his right. There, directly in front of him in the  
distance, was a large mansion that Sora knew was the mayor's home. Kairi's father.

"Go on and do what you what you wish. Shall I rent you a room?" Frank shouted from the ship.

"No. I have that figured out already." Sora replied while running for the mayor's home.

As Sora arrived at the front door, he took a second to catch his breath before knocking on the  
large door. A man came to the door, it was the mayor.

"Hello mayor. Where is Kairi these days? I'm an old friend, I would like to suprise her." Sora  
said in a polite tone.

"She still hangs out at the island at the southern end of town. She's there with her friend Riku  
right about now."

"Okay. Thank you, sir."

Sora turned around and move swiftly back down the stairs. His heart raced at the thought of  
seeing his friends again. He tried to hail a taxi, only to realize that he had no money. Sora  
cursed and ran the whole way to the docks where he hoped his little row boat still floated.


	8. Chapter 8

As Sora arrived at the small dock that he could still recognize, he suddenly remembered.  
He saw his boat when the world was swallowed by darkness- at the island. Sora stood still  
this time, dissapointed and stuck. He recolected not being able to quite swim to the island  
when he was fourteen. Looking at it now however, he would be stupid not to swim. Sora was  
wearing a baggy hoody and therefore decided to jump in with just his jeans and shoes on.  
Sora felt amazing as he felt the water along with his memories of himself and his friends on the  
island cover all of his body. The water was warm, much like the air as always. Sora snapped  
out of his trance and swam as fast as he dared, being sure not to run out of breath before he  
reached the island. As he swam, Sora looked around in awe. Never had Sora thought, that  
returning would feel this amazing.

Sora was about three yards from the island now, exhausted and breathing hard to regain his  
breath. As he surfaced he wasted no time. As his feet were able to touch the sand, even under  
the water, he took off in a full out sprint. As he reached dry land he looked around in search of  
his friends. He began to notice that hardly anything had changed and this relieved him. He  
slowly walked toward their paopu tree. From what he could see from the beach, there were  
people staring out into the sea. Sora hoped with everything he had that it was Riku and Kairi.  
Sora continued to sprint up to the shack that was connected to the paopu tree's tiny island. He  
walked up the small flight of stairs and opened the door that lead to the little, simply built  
bridge. He nearly started shouting with joy when he noticed that Riku and Kairi were indeed  
the people that he saw. Sora inched closer and closer, everything was very much like how  
Sora remembered. They had matured though, beside the bent down tree was a small radio  
playing soft rock music and were a couple beer bottles. It almost made Sora a little  
uncomfortable, he had never been one to try those kind of things. Sora was now standing on  
the end of the bridge and ready to show himself.

"Ahem." Sora said jokingly, loud enough to be heard.

Riku turned his head casually and raised one eyebrow, trying to make himself believe that it  
truely was Sora. Sora gave a crooked smile and Riku froze, now sure that it was him. As Kairi  
noticed Riku's staring eyes, Kairi turned her head to find what his attention was turned to. She  
looked at Sora's face and her eyes opened wide as well. Soon her eyes were filling with tears  
and Riku was smiling as happily as Sora had ever seen. Kairi stood up and ran to Sora, as she  
reached him she hugged him so tight that Sora had to hug her back to make her loosen her  
grip. As Sora realized that he was still soaked, he loosened his grip and she let go.

Sora broke the silence,"So this is the music people listen to now?"

Kairi giggled, "I guess so."

They all walked over and sat in the sand rather than on the tree.

"You haven't said anything, Riku. How have you been?" Sora offered.

Riku awkwardly nodded then said, "Do you need a shirt?" he asked slowly.

"No. I don't want to move from this spot." Sora answered.

"Good." Kairi spoke up.

The realization that this wonderful moment would not last, danted Sora's mood. He refused  
to show it, however. He would not allow this to spoil his visit.


	9. Chapter 9

"You have to tell us everything!" Kairi said exitedly, "You must have seen so much in your time  
away, right?"

"Honestly... no." Sora replied calmly and easily.

"Then... where have you been? Why did you leave?" Riku spoke up from his spot in the line of  
three.

"A strange world, a place where people died for me." Sora said in a sad tone, recalling the  
armed men and women.

"Wow... so you were the one in danger for once." Kairi said with a smile.

"Let's just say I wouldn't be here right now."

Riku and Kairi continued to stare into the sea. Sora chose his moment and stood up only to  
take a seat on the end of the paopu tree.

Overlooking his friends he made his announcment, "Listen guys... I'm going back."

Kairi didn't even look at him, staring out at sea she simply replied, "Be safe."

"Yeah, the darkness is back. I've met a man called Frank, he'll help me. It's more of a clean up  
mission, ya know?" Sora said as he stared at the sand at his feet.

The three sat in silence, staring at eachother. Never before had Sora felt awkward with these  
people like this.

"Well listen, I'm staying for two days. Lets make these days worth it!" Sora offered, bringing up  
the mood.

Throughout the day, Sora and his friends did everything he missed so much. As they walked  
across the beach, Riku bagan to run. Feeling the urge that he felt when he was a kid, Sora ran  
after him. It felt amazing to him, he felt almost as if he were making up a tiny bit for everything  
he missed when in that damned machine. Riku stopped in front of the enterance of their secret  
place. Sora stopped beside Riku and panted hard, then Kairi came running up quite a ways  
behind the guys. Without saying a word they all ducked through the enterance, one after the  
other. On top of being dissapointed about having to leave, he was happy to know his friends  
were fine. And if he could be sure they would be okay, he would carry on with his duties  
perfectly happy.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's Note: In case you're wondering this story takes place just after Kingdom Hearts 2. Consider it an alternate ending I guess.**_

As the three friends walked into their secret cave, Sora became overwhelmed with happiness.  
Being so close to his old life that has been promised to return, only to have to leave again.  
Suddenly, Sora needed to check on something. He walked to where the mysterious door once  
stood... gone. This was what Sora had expected, seeing how he was able to travel here from  
another world. Yet, in some way Sora knew he didn't want it to be there. Then Sora  
remembered his drawing, as he looked over he saw that it was completed just as it was when  
he saw it last. Whether it was in the machine or if he truley saw it, he didn't care. He knew that  
Kairi cares about him or at least did either would be good for Sora.

Sora noticed a tear stream down his face. Seeing Riku and Kairi aproaching on his right, he  
whiped the tear away.

Riku looked at the drawing and teased, "Wow guys, that's touching."

Kairi playfully punched him in the arm. "I used to look at this all the time, hoping that the day  
would be the day you'd get home. I stopped a year ago or so, until today. I touched it today for  
the first time in a year, then you came." She said, sounding teary herself.

"That's cute, guys." Riku said with a sincere, joking smile.

The three laughed and exited the cave together, recalling all of the wonderful times they had  
as kids. As the three of them reached the beach once again, they all noticed the sun was  
setting.

"How 'bout I show you my place, Sora." Riku offered, still staring at the setting sun.

"Sure." Sora said as Kairi nodded.

They all went to the dock, Riku and Kairi's boats were there. Sora travelled in Kairi's boat,  
rowing for her as Riku drove his rowboat alongside them. As they all got back to the town they  
began to walk down the sidewalk.

"It's just a few blocks away, Sora." Riku explained, "It's not much but it's better than living with  
parents, I guess. Me and Kairi have been splitting rent for a while."

It was strange to Sora, seeing his friends all grown up. As they talked of finances and whatnot  
on the way to Riku and Kairi's apartment, Sora regretted how he missed so much of his  
childhood. He now felt like the men and woman from the world that Sora woke up in. They  
hated Sora without knowing of reasons or circumstances, just as Sora now hated whoever put  
him into the machine.

As they finally reached the apartment building that his friends called home, Sora was beyond  
tired. It had been a very long day, what with the trip, the long swim, and the day of fast paced  
kids stuff.

As if Riku read Sora's mind he said, "You look tired, man. Get some rest," while grabbing a  
beer from his fridge and pointing to the couch.

Sora took his advice and layed down on the sofa. He saw Riku and Kairi sit down at their small  
dining table as they sat in silence. Sora could not watch them any longer and he dozed off into  
a deep sleep.

Sora wakes up believing that he hadn't slept at all, but he looks through the window to see that  
it is dark outside. As he looks at the staircase across from his couch, he sees what woke him.  
Kairi is standing in the middle of the stairs, staring at Sora. He sits up on the couch to show her  
that he's awake. She quietly comes down the rest of the stairs, walks over to Sora and sits next  
to him.

Still being sure to be quiet, she speaks, "I haven't slept yet, Sora. I have to know something."

"What?" Sora whispers in reply.

"During these ten long years... where have you been, Sora? Where were you?"


	11. Chapter 11

"I was sleeping." Sora answered Kairi simply and plainly.

"Sora, I'm serious!" She whispered a little louder.

"So am I... it seems that you know half and I know half." Sora explained. "Please, tell me what  
happened on the day that me and Riku returned."

Kairi now knew from Sora's tone that he was truely lost, "You began to fade... I had no idea  
what it meant and neither did you. What happened after that... I still can't believe it today. Me  
Riku agree to never talk about it, he accepted that you were dead-"

"What happened!?" Sora asked forcefully yet holding Kairi's hand.

"You were going to walk into the ocean when... as soon as you touched the water you were  
gone." Kairi said quietest yet.

"Thank you," Sora whispered as he whiped a tear from Kairi's face.

Kairi stood up and walked back upstairs. When she was out of Sora's sight he laid back down  
and quickly drifted back to sleep, his mind now slightly more at ease. In what felt like only a  
minute later to Sora, he felt something hard and solid drop onto his chest. Sora woke slowly  
but surely, as he looked down he identified the projectile as one of Riku's empty beer bottles.

"Get up, dude. It's your last day here, right?" Riku said as he approached Sora and sat down  
in the recliner across from Sora's couch.

"Yeah..." Sora answered drowsily. "Hey, why do you drink this stuff?"

"Your fault man." Riku said jokingly, "I thought you were dead..."

"Well I'm not... so your gonna stop right?" Sora asked sounding more worried than he wanted  
to.

Riku raised an eyebrow, stood up, and walked to the trash can and threw away his bottle. Sora  
smiled as he opened his fridge and threw away the rest.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora asked while looking around.

"I don't know... she was in here a minute ago."

Sora followed Riku as he walked to the fire escape balcony. Kairi stood there looking out into  
the sky, her eyes watering. Sora and Riku slowly looked up at what she was staring at. There  
in the sky was an electrified dark ball. Just like the one that attacked on the night that the  
keyblade chose him. As Sora examined more of the sky he couldn't believe what he saw.  
There were three, three of those damned things.

Suddenly there was pounding on the door to the apartment. Sora summoned his keyblade and  
slowly walked to the door. He cracked the door, keyblade ready. Sora sighed in relief, for it  
was only Frank.

"Sora, it has begun. I knew this trip was a bad idea!" Frank shouted, panicking.

Sora turned to Riku and Kairi, "Listen guys, I'm going to have to go again."

As Sora was half way out the door, Riku stopped him. "Wait! I'm coming, I'll help you fight."

"No you-" Sora began.

"Good," Frank interupted loudly, "Let's go."

Riku took Kairi's hand, leading her out as well. The four ran down the flights of stairs, one after  
the other. As they reached the bottom floor and ran out the exit door, people were running and  
screaming in every direction. Sora noticed that the population had definately grown since he  
was here last, all those years ago. Frank led the other three through the street.

"I'll get us to the ship! Then, we're out of here!" Frank shouted dodging freaky strings of  
darkness branching out in all directions.

The four ran for their lives, not looking back. As Sora could see the ship ahead, he took a breif  
glance back to see the damage done, he wished he hadn't. Behind them was something like  
Sora had never seen before. Directly behind them was a huge wave of pure darkness, it was  
in direct persuit of them and only them. Sora picked up his pace and yelled for everyone else  
to do the same. All of Sora's fear came out at once, he could hear the whisper of the darkness  
in his ears. He could hear them begging to be let in, begging for Sora to give in. As Sora  
at looked at Riku, he could tell that he was hearing it as well.

As they were running, Sora realized that Kairi was gone! Sora stopped running all at once and  
looked directly at the wave. He spotted Kairi right in front of it, staring in awe and fear. She  
must have stopped running. Sora screamed her name as loud as he could as the darkness  
engulfed her cowering body. Suddenly, Sora knew what he had to do. He began running again  
but in the opposite direction of the ship. As he reached about half way to the dark wave, he  
looked back to make sure the others made it. As Riku was visible from the doorway yelling  
Sora's name, Sora smiled and waved. Sora closed his eyes as he felt the first bits of darkness  
engulf him.


	12. Chapter 12

As Sora opens his eyes again, he now can see where the darkness has brought him, and it  
frightens him. As Sora examines his position, he notices that he is in the machine only the  
machine isn't on. He tries to jump off the machine as he did the first time, but he notices there  
are strong leather straps restraining his wrists. Sora began to feel rage, but when he looked  
across the room he felt it more so. There, on another machine like his was Kairi. Her machine  
was turned on and you could see the smile of the perfect life spread across her face. The rage  
filled him and he used it to his advantage, he concentrated on only the darkness and with that,  
ripped the leather clean from the machine.

Sora walked to Kairi's machine and used the keyblade to cut wire after wire, sabotaging the  
machine. Walking back around front to see if his friend had awaken as he did, he noticed she  
hadn't budged. She was still imprisoned, left to rot while believing all worries were gone. To  
Sora's great suprise, her finger twitched and her mouth openned. Sora expected more to  
happen but it didn't. Upon examining her open mouth he saw trickles of black matter, it was  
darkness. The horrible stuff shot from her mouth, drenching the room and Sora. He felt sick,  
this was awful. It was a true nightmare! The darkness continued to overwhelmed the area  
around the two, Sora fell to the ground. Asleep once again.

Sora cracked his eyes open, he was no longer in the terrible room. He was on the his back in  
a beautiful meadow, looking up at the sky. As he sat up, the world began to transform. Giant  
holes formed in the ground and soon enough, darkness shot up out of them just as they did  
from Kairi. It was one god awful nightmare after the other.

"No! I want to wake up," Sora yelled to whomever may be listening. "No, I will wake up. Sleep  
does not control me! Sleep does-"

He lost the ability to talk as he saw something that just looked so real that it shocked Sora. It  
was Kairi and Riku side by side with darkness surrouning them. Sora's heart was racing to fast,  
he was in pain. Never before had he experienced something so terrible, so morbid. As Sora  
screamed and screamed, every thing went black again.

As Sora cracked one eye open in fear of yet another nightmare, he saw Kairi leaning over him.  
Kairi aided him as he sat up to examine his surroundings some more. They were in a cave,  
as he looked to his side he saw a quickly made campfire. Sora reached out to Kairi's face, he  
had to be sure that it was truely her.

"Are you real?" Sora asked in a serious tone.

With tears in her eyes she nodded, "Was it the nightmares?"

"You too?" Sora asked.

Kairi relaxed a little and sat in front of the fire, "They were terrible. I will never talk about them."

"Me neither, let's just put this behind us and find a way out of here." Sora said while getting up.  
"At least we are well rested."

"Yeah," Kairi said quietly.

"Somebody will come for us, Kairi. They always do." Sora said reassuringly.

"What if this is the end of it all. Don't you think it's a little strange how things have always gone  
the way we want? Well, I think that now it's all gonna change." Kairi explained.

"Maybe..." Sora replied uncertainly.

"It just stopped raining, let's go see where we are." Kairi said.

Sora got up and followed Kairi to the mouth of the cave. As they stepped out together and  
looked out into the distance, it looked just like his dreams. Kairi turned around immediately to  
escape the terrible sight. In one sentence, Sora accepted his future.

"Game over," he said grimmly.

Then Sora opened his eyes, he was laying on his back on the ship. In the corner of his eye,  
Sora saw Frank.

"Don't worry, the nightmares are over," Frank said reassuringly.


	13. Chapter 13

Sora became fully concience of his surroundings, realizing that he was in one of the seats of  
Frank's ship.

"How do you know they're over? This could be a dream as well." Sora suggested, feeling very  
shaken from what he had seen.

"It could be, but there are more important thing to worry about now. The darkness just attacked  
us, you in particular. It wants another fight, and you are gonna give it to them as we agreed."  
Frank's words repeated in Sora's head.

Remembering the reason that he refused to escape the darkness, he eagerly asked, "Where's  
Kairi?" trying hard to keep his face emotionless.

Frank pointed at another seat across from Sora's, she was still asleep. Even in the deep, dark  
abyss of darkness, she looked peaceful.

"Why did this happen to us? It's not exactly the first time we've come into contact with darkness  
you know." Sora asked curiously.

"The darkness is stronger than ever, it has the power to manipulate even your involuntary  
thoughts," Frank explained greifly, "but make no mistake, we are going to fight back. This isn't  
exactly like what you've done before, but it will be very similar. I'm going to initiate Operation  
Black Cloud immediatly, you'll be going to world after world securing them."

"It's gonna take quite a while, I assume." Sora implied.

Frank nodded.

"Wait, where's Riku?" Sora asked in a concerned tone.

Frank only silently stood and walked to a seat next to the two pilots who obviously escaped as  
well. With that, Sora knew exactly what had happened. It slightly put Sora's thoughts at ease  
that Riku was captured instead of Kairi. Riku could fight the darkness as he had before, Kairi  
on the other hand had barely any experience fighting them. Sora became worried about Kairi  
and walked over to Frank.

They spoke to eachother again, "She's gonna wake up, right?" Sora asked.

"You did, didn't you?" Frank responded.

"Answer my question." Sora said assertivly.

"Yes. There's no telling how long, even those few seconds more that she was exposed to that  
darkness will make a difference. I'm very confident it will be soon, but I can't be one hundred  
percent sure of it." Frank explained.

"I'll go ahead and hope for the best." Sora replied.

"Now, as I said, we are carrying on with the operation as soon as possible. I haven't had any  
contact with my world since the attack on your island, it truely saddens me to say that it was  
probably attacked as well."

"What is our first stop?" Sora asked.

One of the pilots clicked the keyboard in front of him, "G-05, or as called by the locals,  
Traverse Town."

Sora began wondering what it was going to be like, he had friends on many worlds and had  
been to mostly each of them more than once. He wondered what it would be like to arrive and  
find everyone gone.


	14. Chapter 14

"We're coming up on the Traverse Town gates now, sir." One of the pilots called to Frank from  
the ship's controls.

Frank turned to Sora who was sitting in a seat beside Kairi's, who was still asleep. "We are  
about to begin. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Sora answered uneasily, wishing that Kairi was awake to see him off  
as well.

As the ship landed softly in front of the large doors leading to Traverse Town, Sora could  
recall landing there with Donald and Goofy. He hoped they were alright, and Mickey too, and  
every one else he had met on his journeys.

The outskirts of the town looked just like they had before, peaceful. He walked to the doors  
and put one ear up to it. Sora could hear nothing unusual, or even anything usual. There was  
nothing, it was dead silence. He looked back at the gummi ship, Frank was ordering the two  
pilots, now armed, to secure the perimeter of the ship from any Heartless. As the two of them  
ran off, Frank motioned Sora to carry on with the mission.

As the one of the huge doors swung open, Sora walked in quietly and alertly. There were no  
signs of life at all, none of the few kids who liked to hang out in the square in front of the  
accesory shop. Sora took into consideration that ten years had passed, but that was no excuse  
for the silence that he heard. Sora walked a little less stealthily than before into the item shop  
than Donald's nephews ran the last time Sora was there, although Sora now had to expect  
young adults.

Sora walked inside and looked around. He searched the shop all over and finally found  
nothing. Sora could not accept they were gone until he had proof, though. He ordered himself  
to ask about them once he found somebody, if he did. He searched the accesory shop next  
door as well, and even the Moogle shop that was in the attic. There was no one, Sora  
reassured himself as he reminded himself that there were still three more districts to check.  
Sora searched everywhere that he could think of, then he was ready to move on to the second  
district.

As he opened the door as slowly as he could he heard a voice, "Excuse me," the voice said.

Sora spun around and drew his Keyblade, he recognized the person as a woman that he had  
seen before. He remembered he always standing beside and outdoor diner that was just in  
front of the item shop.

"If you're here to help, your too late." She said, sounding shaken up from something.

"What do you mean? The world is still here, what happened?" Sora asked cluelessly.

"The Heartless have reached the core. I want you to run, leave now." She explained, crying  
now.

As the woman began to shake and point just above the door leading to the second district,  
Sora slowly turned to see what she had been talking about. The destruction was visible above  
the door, a gigantic mushroom cloud of darkness with a glow of dark purple. Sora began to  
shake, it was even larger than the one at his world.

"Go! Run!" The woman commanded once again.

"Fine, but come with me!" Sora commanded as he grabbed her hand and dragged her off.


	15. Chapter 15

Sora hadn't made it far into the town, making it quite easy to escape. As the flames of  
darkness and parts of the town flew to the ground far behind Sora, he knew he would never  
be able to escape the fate that these innocent people had endured. This world was through,  
no magestic weapon or friendship could possibly save this world.

Sora could once again the gate after only about a half-minute of running. He ran into the gate,  
immediatly using all of his energy to get it open as soon as possible. With all of his adrenaline  
pumping through his body, the giant gate swung open with ease. He pulled the woman  
through the gate from the outside and pushed the gate shut again, it moved with more difficulty  
this time. The swung shut and Sora let out a sigh, pleased with his hopless attempt to perhaps  
guard the ship from any destruction.

"Sora!" Frank called from inside the ship, waking Sora from his trance of relief. Sora ran full  
speed to and straight into the ship. As he looked around for the woman, he found that she was  
not in the ship. As he turned and looked out the slowly closing hatch, he saw the woman  
running into the distance. As Sora strained himself, trying to make out what she was running to.  
He finally saw it, she was running to a group of four or five people, fearfully defending  
themselves from the largest blob of darkness that he had ever seen. Sora didn't know if it was  
a colossal, single Heartless or perhaps billions of normal Heartless. He didn't care, all he  
knew was that this woman gave her life to die fighting with her people.

As the ship reached its takeoff height and the hatch was fully shut, Sora walked to his seat and  
slowly sat. He felt the tears build up, only this time he didn't hold them back. He allowed the  
tears to stream down his face as he admired the bravery of this woman.

Frank approached him, "We've found Riku, the darkness that he's controlled all these years  
became overwhelmed when he ran into the wave. I didn't tell you the story before," he sat in  
a seat across from Sora, "Riku ran into that wave completly fearless, willing to save you and  
Kairi in exchange of his freedom. I was about to leave all three of you, but then he came  
running out of the wave. I suppose that he must have used the darkness to his advantage as  
he had in the past, because he was running faster than that wave somehow. He had you and  
Kairi on his shoulders, as he dropped the two of you in front of me on the ship's hatch, he  
looked into my eyes. They were a creepy, dark purple color." Frank explained, "He said that  
he would be seeing us again..."

Sora stared at the floor at Franks boots, taking in all of what he had just heard. Sora simply  
nodded as Frank stood and move to the front of the ship to join the pilots. Sora knew Riku had  
told the truth, he knew that he would be seeing his friend again. He was used to the darkness  
he should be able to control it easilly. Sora was reassured and ready to do his duty. He was  
ready for the next world, surely it couldn't be as horrible as Traverse Town's end.


End file.
